Decluttering

Last night I decided to unpack the final, large, cardboard removal box which has remained in the garage, unpacked, since we downsized eight years ago!

It was crammed with files containing the course work and notes from my BA, PGCE, DELTA (an ELT exam) and MA. Talk about a trip back in time!

I thought I’d find it hard to throw all those years of work into the recycling bin but it was easier than expected, especially as a flood of rain had seeped into some of the files, fusing pages and rusting staples.

In the end, all I kept were the BA dissertations – one on Harold Pinter and one on the comic novels of Kingsley Amis. I’ll never use them, but they’ll remind me of happy days being a student.

The empty file covers have been dispatched to the local tip.

The garage is still host to various toys, a lawnmower, an old chair, etcetera. That garage has never contained a car in its life and probably never will. But even if the garage doesn’t feel much different, I certainly do. I didn’t realise I was holding on to something I no longer had any use for, until I let it go.

With a light heart, today I’m savouring the extra space in my home and my head.